Let Us Pray

Let Us Pray is Watchman Nee’s collected teaching on the nature and work of prayer. Across seven messages he presents prayer as active cooperation with God: God originates His will, makes that will known to His children, and calls them to return it to Him in prayer so that His purpose may be carried out on earth. The book therefore moves beyond prayer as the expression of personal need and asks what it means to pray according to God’s will, to bear a genuine prayer burden, and to persevere until that burden is discharged.

Nee’s opening teaching establishes prayer as spiritual work. First John 5:14–15 is central to his treatment of asking according to God’s will. Prayer does not persuade God to adopt a human plan; it brings the believer’s desire and will into agreement with what God already desires. The practical question is whether the believer has learned to recognize God’s will and return it to Him in believing prayer.

“Prayer and God’s Work” develops this cooperation further. Ephesians 6:18, Ezekiel 36:37, and Isaiah 62:6–7 contribute to Nee’s argument that God has chosen to work through the prayers of His people. The Holy Spirit makes God’s desire known and gives a burden for prayer; the believer responds with specific prayer until there is inward release. This makes prayer a responsibility as well as fellowship. A spiritual burden is not simply strong emotion but a matter placed upon the believer that calls for sustained prayer.

The principle of praying three times is illustrated through Jesus in Gethsemane and Paul’s repeated prayer concerning the thorn in the flesh. Nee uses Matthew 26 and 2 Corinthians 12 to teach persistence without turning the number three into a mechanical formula. Prayer continues until God answers, redirects the request, or releases the burden. The book also gives practical attention to intercession, the prayer of faith, fellowship with God, prayer in the Lord’s name, and prayer with other believers.

A major portion of the volume concerns prayer in spiritual warfare. Luke 18:1–8, with its widow, judge, and adversary, becomes a framework for understanding prayer in the presence of spiritual opposition. Nee distinguishes the person in need, God to whom prayer is directed, and Satan whose work is resisted. Prayer against the enemy is still prayer to God, but it deliberately asks God to stop, rebuke, or overturn satanic interference. This teaching is meant to help readers who wonder why persistent prayer can involve opposition and how prayer relates to resisting the devil.

The final message develops Satan’s “wearing-out” tactics from Daniel 7:25. Nee describes gradual pressure that weakens the body, heart, spiritual life, time, consecration, and prayer rather than only dramatic attack. Judges 16 contributes Samson’s loss of consecration under repeated pressure, while Acts 16 contributes Paul’s response to the persistent activity of a spirit of divination. These examples reinforce the need for spiritual discernment: believers must recognize pressure that is working against spiritual strength instead of passively accepting every discouraging condition.

Let Us Pray addresses readers asking how to pray according to God’s will, why God chooses to work through prayer, how to recognize a prayer burden, how long to persevere, how prayer functions in spiritual warfare, how to resist Satan through prayer, and how to recognize gradual spiritual wearing down. Its practical aim is an effective prayer life marked by cooperation with God, dependence on the Holy Spirit, persistence, discernment, and resistance to the enemy.